The Election Resource Centre (ERC) has described as a “mockery” the allocation by Treasury of only 19% of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission’s (ZEC) budgetary requirements for 2021.
In a statement on Thursday, the ERC said the failure by the government to financially capacitate ZEC will negatively affect the quality of the 2023 elections. The statement read:
ZEC must start preparations for the delimitation build-up processes and underfunding the commission at this juncture is a mockery to the mandate of the commission and thus derails preparations towards the 2023 elections and has a direct impact on the quality of the elections in terms of universal suffrage and representation.
The ERC also questioned the government’s sincerity towards implementing the necessary electoral reforms due to its failure to fund ZEC. It added:
The financial support coupled with the necessary reforms is the bedrock that anchor electoral processes that meet constitutional benchmarks and regional and internationally agreed standards.
Under-resourcing ZEC does not in any way reflect the government’s sincerity to electoral processes in the country.